Luck and all those things
by Seriouslyme
Summary: Post-canon. Chapter 4:In which Sakura is mad, Sasuke is confused and Naruto is the ultimate wise guy. [Very canon. Ship is sailing ]
1. Luck

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-sensei.

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><p>Pairing: Sasusaku, post-canon.<p>

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A/N: Needed to write something. I WANT TO READ STUFF AND NOBODY SEEMS TO BE WRITING ANY.

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><p>.<p>

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><p>When she isn't in bed, its because she's in the bathroom throwing up. Lately, they've been administering her vitamins and electrolytes through IV because her stomach won't hold any food. Most of time, she has no energy to speak at all, and when she does, her voice is hoarse and raspy. There are shadows under her eyes and her face looks gaunt, and her skin is so white it shines against the dark purple sheets.<p>

She looks like death.

They tell him she's going to be okay, that this is normal for some people, that everything is okay. But how could everything be okay? The shaking hands, the sheen of sweat on her forehead, the fact that she hasn't stepped out of this room in two weeks. That she cannot even support herself enough to make her way to the bathroom alone. He has never seen her so sick, so helpless.

How was any of this normal?

He cannot keep the annoyance from his voice as he tells Tsunade he doesn't care, just _fix_ her. But the one feeling he can't shake off is the fear that's clawing at his heart. The terrifying thought that_ this_ is what is going to tear her away from him.

He has been declining missions, and he won't leave her side, not when Ino is there, hovering around like a mother hen and stroking her hair, not when her_ real_ mother is there, telling stories about the time when Sakura was born- more for his benefit than hers.

He doesn't think he has felt this helpless since the night his parents died. His sword, all of his jutsus and all of his training and there is nothing- _nothing_ he can do to help her.

There is nothing he can do.

He doesn't think he wants to repopulate his clan afterall; not if he has to watch her go through this everyday for nine months. Not when she looks like she's on the brink of death. He doesn't, he cannot—

He is torn away from his thoughts when a hand squeezes his own, and he looks down to see Sakura looking at him tiredly, one of her hands on his.

"You should get some rest, Sasuke-kun," she rasps, smiling slightly, and Sasuke has to look away to get his composure back.

"I'm fine, " he says, but he can't look at her anymore. Not with the lump growing in his throat, making it difficult for him to speak, not when she is lying there, looking so small and broken, and worrying about him. He couldn't- he couldn't lose her.

Not when she was everything he had.

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><p>Everyone is right though, and Sakura does get better. It takes a terrible amount of time and there are times when Sasuke is certain she is going to slip away, but she makes it, just like everyone said she would. Her appetite comes back slowly, and at first, she can only keep down plain, tasteless food like bread and pieces of unflavoured biscuits. There is no need for the tray they keep by her bedside anymore because she can make it to the bathroom when she needs to vomit—although Sasuke makes sure she's accompanied by someone—and she doesn't throw up as much as she used to. Soon, the colour returns to her face and she is up and about, but Sasuke is still skeptical as to whether she should be. In the past two weeks, she's lost so much weight that her clothes won't fit her anymore, but she laughs when he points that out and assures him she would be needing a larger size soon enough.<p>

And sure enough, within two weeks, she is looking like her old self and eating enough to make up for the weeks that she lost. She has even put on a few extra pounds. Sasuke starts taking on missions, but none of the s-ranked ones for now, thankyou very much, because he'd like to be home every few days to make sure she hasn't succumbed back into the sickness.

In the next few weeks that follows, Sakura develops an unhealthy attachment to fried foods, and everything she cooks has a healthy dose of oil on it. She even takes to frying chocolate and fruit because Sasuke-kun, it tastes like heaven! That night, they have fried rice for dinner with fried fish and fried vegetables, and fried pinapple with icecream and chocolate(fried) for desert. Sakura eats twice as much as he does, and still, he finds her up in the middle of the night, making her way through a bowl of popcorn.

It is like this for the next few weeks, but Sasuke doesn't really mind, until he returns from a two-week mission to find her in tears, a huge bowl of custard on her lap, and the rugrats on the TV.

When she sees him, she tries to wipe away her tears and smile, but she ends up dissolving into a fresh batch of tears when he asks her what's wrong. "I don't know, Sasuke-kun," she says through her tears. "I ruined the custard and I'm fat and I.. I thought you wouldn't want to come back because I-I-I-I'm fat and –". Sasuke doesn't understand most of it, but he takes her into his arms and tells her to stop crying, that she wasn't fat and ofcourse he would want to come back, but it only makes her cry more, and in the end, he just holds her until she tires herself out and falls asleep.

In the coming months, Sasuke finds out that that first night on the couch is just a small dose of what is to come. Sakura is okay sometimes, but the more he is away from home, the more distressed she gets. Sometimes she's angry and she would throw things or shout, and that, he could deal with. But when her anger goes away, she would end up in tears, and that he did not know how to deal with. Especially when she told her through her sobs that she didn't want to make him stay with her if he didn't want to. That day, he'd come home from an eight day mission and found her watching a documentary about spiders and crying.

After that, Sasuke took to taking long breaks between missions. It helped that Sakura was going back to the hospital now, and patients took up some of her day. When he did go on a mission, he made sure it was three days or less. Having him around, Sasuke had found out, made Sakura calmer and less prone to emotional outbreaks, as he had labeled them.

Around them, their house changed as Sasuke assembled the crib they'd bought and Sakura took to baby proofing the rest of it, which included making it nearly impossible to operate electrical plugs and use the toilet. They bought clothes and toys and blankets, and little boots and finally, finally they were ready for the new arrival.

Sasuke stopped going on missions at all by the end of the eighth month. He wanted to be there when the baby was born, and he wasn't taking any chances. As it turned out though, the night she went into labour, Sasuke had been called out to a three day emergency reckon mission.

He'd gotten the hawk on his way back, and he had rushed to the hospital as fast as he could- the mission report, the hokage or his wounds could wait. So could getting cleaned up. But in the end, they refused to let him into the labour-room with clothes caked with mud and blood and the long gash down his face—something about infections, it seemed. So at the end of it, Sasuke was forced to give up a whole ten minutes where he went home, got cleaned up, and returned.

The labour-room was frightening. Sakura was lying on a bed, face scrunched up in pain. They'd put chakra restrainers on each of her hands, lest she accidentally released chakra and caused the hospital to cave in accidentally. Her hair splayed wildly about her and she thrashed about on the bed as two nurses hovered around her feet, which were raised on either side with a blue sheet covering them. When she saw Sasuke, Sakura attempted a smile, but it was more of a grimace, really, and when he walked over, she gripped his hand so tightly that it started to feel numb after a few minutes.

It was like she was being tortured. When she wasn't screaming, her face was convulsed in pain, and she breathed heavily in between the contractions, like someone who was fighting for oxygen. She was crying too, and when she could, she was begging him to make it stop.

It was, perhaps, the longest hour of Sasuke's life, but finally, finally, there was a sharp, high-pitched veil and Tsunade stood up holding a bundle . And then, she put the bundle into Sakura's arms, and Sasuke got the first look at his daughter. Beneath the blood and goo, her hair was black, and she had the largest eyes for such a small face. But most of all, he noticed how her tiny fingers bunched up the blanket.

His daughter.

His.

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura sighed and he let himself sit down on the bed beside her, putting an arm around her shoulders and hesitantly touching the tiny, tiny fingers with the other. Then he looked at Sakura, who couldn't seem to tear her eyes away from the tiny form on her lap, and he knew, as he brushed his lips against her head, that he was the luckiest man alive.


	2. Questionable

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-sensei.

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><p>Sasusaku, post-canon. This takes place after 699, but before the events of chapter one.<p>

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A/N: This is turning into a series of loosely-related oneshots and drabbles. Blame the manga and the canon otp.

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><p>.<p>

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><p>She sees him in a nondescript little village a little way off the Hidden Rain village. Its funny how you don't have to see their face to recognize someone you're familiar with. It's the way they walk, the lazy gait, the way they hold themselves, a shift in their shoulders and suddenly, you know who it is without having to see their faces. That is what happened to Sakura.<p>

His hair is sticking out from a greyish turban around his head and he is wearing a-a _poncho?_ _Why?_ But then this is Sasuke and there is no whys and hows because he doesn't have the best fashion radar.

She still remembers that horrible purple bow he used to wear. Repressing a shudder, she quickens her pace in order to catch up with his strides. She's almost reached him when she wonders if she should leave him alone. Would he appreciate being approached by her when he had very clearly wanted to be alone to travel? But she didn't have time to mull over her thoughts or make a decision because Sasuke turned before she'd reached him.

"Sakura," he says her name, eyebrows arched and lips pulled up in an amused half-smile.

"Sasuke-kun," she nods, folding her hands behind her back and trying to look as nonchalant as she could. "You look… original." With the new get-up he has and the almost confession he had made the last time they'd seen each other made her decidedly nervous. What did he mean by that anyway? Flicking her forehead and "maybe next time?"(Naruto had hooted the moment Sasuke left and she had borne different versions of 'Sasuke and Sakura sitting in a tree' for the next few days before finally snapping and threatening to shave off his glorious blond hair if he did not stop).What she knew for sure though, was that he had made a promise to come back to her. Maybe it wasn't the confession of love that Naruto undoubtedly thought it was, but it was a promise she would hold him to. And that was enough, for now.

If Sasuke is confused at her comment, he doesn't let it show, but resumes walking. She walks beside him, sneaking a glance at him every few seconds. She scratches her head. Walks for a few more minutes. Shakes her head. Walks for some more.

And finally, she can't take it anymore.

"Sasuke-kun, what's up with your clothes?" she blurts out.

Sasuke gives her a bemused look. "What about it?"

"It just looks very.." out of place? Huge? Weird? Only a little bit better than the butt-bow? Like a southern tribal leader met hipster? Instead, she says, "would you like to go shopping?"

"Do you need anything?"

He still doesn't get it, does he? "No.. I was thinking you we could buy you some new clothes?"

Sasuke stops walking then and gives her a look which seems to suggest that he thinks she's a bit off. "I have clothes."

"Yes, but.."

"Do you think something is wrong with them?" Sasuke is giving her a raised eyebrow again.

"Well…" she trails off, "Just, don't you think that poncho is a bit too large? We could get you some normal ninja clothes, and a coat which would be more practical, I think?"

If Sasuke arches his eyebrow any higher, if would be swallowed by his head. "My clothes are _fine_ Sakura. This Ruana was hand-knitted from the southern mountain tribes off the coast of Cloud. I am not exchanging this for some common _coat_." He says the word coat as if it is something nasty.

Obviously, he is very passionate about his poncho. But that weird, turban-like thing he's wearing? In the end Sakura decides it isn't worth it to ask his about it. For all she knew, it was possibly a heirloom passed down from the royal families of the Arabic seas. Hand-knitted. She resists the urge to roll her eyes and instead settles for saying, "Fair enough," and nodding in a mature sort of way.

Let Sasuke have his clothes for now. Atleast it isn't a buttbow.


	3. Laughter

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

A/N: I wrote it for Sasusaku month 2012(or 2013, I'm not sure). Had it here with a bunch of other stuff which I deleted because I was feeling stupid. I've edited it a bit (since at the time, I didn't know the baby was a girl and called Sarada).

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><p><strong>Summary:<strong> Sakura witnesses an endearing moment between father and daughter.  
><strong>Rating:<strong> K  
><strong>Prompt:<strong> Laughter

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><p>"Guh-gla-gu-ar."<p>

"No. Daddy. Dah-dee. Say it Sara!"

"Glu –ba-ga..mu-ah?"

"Gluba Daddy. Da-uh-dee!"

Sakura shifted on the bed, eyes opening blearily to regard the pillow she was latched onto. When she did not sense any immediate threat, her eyelids drooped and she turned onto her stomach, burying her face in her pillow and trying to block out whatever it was that had awakened her in the first place.

"Ga-guu!" the voice which crept into her semi-consciousness was high and young- evidently that of a baby.

"Ga-gu no-oh. Duh-dee!" The baby gurgled again, this time, in a strangely deep voice. Sakura stiffened. "Day-dee!" It was the same voice again, and it definitely was not the voice she associated with her three month old daughter. Sakura shot up, hands forming into seals and eyes wide open, feet ready to spring from the bed at the presence that was threatening her baby.

She stopped short when her eyes met a familiar head of long, spiky black hair silhouetted against the faint orange light of the night lamp mounted on the wall. The man stood bent over the cot, his back to her.

The baby giggled.

"Sasuke-kun?"

"Ga-ii-" Sasuke stopped mid-gurgle and turned around. In the dim light of the room, Sakura could see that his eyes were wide. "Sakura."

"Were you.. were you just gurgling at the baby?" she asked, a smile creeping its way onto her face.

Sasuke did not answer, but crossed his arms across his chest and turned his face away, instead opting to look out the window. Sakura dearly wished the room was brighter so she could see for sure whether he was blushing or not.

It wasn't everyday when Konoha's broodiest ninja got caught in the act of babbling in baby talk.

Sakura laughed and swung her legs onto the carpet. "Oh, Sasuke-kun! I didn't know you had this side to you," she continued gleefully, standing up from the bed and walking towards her discomfited husband. "Wait till Naruto hears-"

"You wouldn't dare," Sasuke whipped his face towards her in one fluid motion, eyes narrowed in a glare.

"Wouldn't I?" she asked, coming to a stand in front of him, a wide grin on her face.

He continued to glare at her. Behind them, the baby gurgled again. Sakura laughed again and reached up to brush his bangs out of his eyes. Then she stood up on her toes and kissed him lightly on the lips.

"You're a good father, Sasuke-kun," she said, "and that's exactly what I'm going to tell Naruto. Nothing more, nothing less." Sakura felt Sasuke visibly relax at her words. She had just given him her word and the safety of his ego had been guaranteed. Sakura resisted the urge to roll her eyes. _Men and their stupid notions of pride._

His arms came to wrap around her, and she let herself relax into his hold, resting her head on his chest and sliding her own arms around his waist. Her eyes travelled to the little girl in the cot, babbling merrily in her own little language and already aiming perfect little kicks at an imaginary enemy.

She smiled.

Life was wonderful.


	4. Conversations

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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><p><strong>AN: I wrote it for Sasusaku month 2012(or 2013, I'm not sure). Had it here with a bunch of other stuff which I deleted because I was feeling stupid. And I've been meaning to reupload the stuff I deleted(well atleast the stories which I _did_ back up). **

This takes place during Sakura's pregnancy.

**Summary:** In which Sakura is mad, Sasuke is confused and Naruto is the ultimate wise guy.  
><strong>Rating:<strong> K  
><strong>Prompt:<strong> Conversation

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><p>"Sakura."<p>

"Hn."

"My arm is bleeding."

"..."

"..."

"There."

"Sakura?"

"..."

"You threw the bandage roll at me."

"Hn."

"Is something wrong?"

"Hn."

"Did something happen at the hospital?"

"Hn."

"On your mission then?"

"Hn."

"No?"

"Hn."

"Yes?"

"Hn."

"Are you saying yes or no?"

"Hn!"

"…"

"…"

"Was it something I did?"

"..."

"What _did_ I do?"

"..."

"Sakura?"

"..."

"Say something, dammit!"

"Hn."

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

"You're annoying."

Slam.

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><p>"Hello! The Most Glorious Hokage to ever grace Konoha is currently unavailable to take your call. Please schedule an appointment with his secretary and his grace might just get back to you!"<p>

...

"Hello! The Most Glorious Hokage to ever grace Konoha is currently unavailable to take your call. Please schedule an appointment with his secretary and his grace might just get back to you!"

...

"Hello! The Most Glorious Hokage –"

"What?"

"Naruto."

"Sasuke! Why the hell are you calling me at this time of the freaking night?"

"It's morning, dobe."

"It is two a.m you bastard!"

"Sakura is acting... weird."

"Go to bed, Sasuke."

"She won't talk to me."

"Maybe she's asleep, like every other normal human being!"

"She just slammed the bedroom door in my face."

"..."

"She called me annoying."

"..."

"And she kept hn-ing me."

"So?"

"She's acting like me."

"_Oh_."

"..."

"She didn't hit you?"

"..."

"Shit, Sasuke, that's bad! What did you do to her?"

"Nothing."

"Think, you idiot. Was today your anniversary? Anything that you forgot?"

"..."

"Keep thinking, bastard. Did she go anywhere today?"

"Just a D-rank mission with some of the academy brats. And the hospital for her scan."

"Scan?"

"She said something about it this morning."

"Hang on. The scan, for the baby?"

"Hn."

"Sasuke, did you go to the hospital with her?"

"..."

"You didn't?"

"..."

"Dammit, you bastard! You were supposed to go with her for the scan!"

"The scan was for her."

"You are so dense sometimes."

"..."

"She obviously told you about it because she wanted you to go with her."

"..."

"..."

"She never asked me to come."

"Of course she didn't!"

"Then why would I go?"

"It's your baby."

"So?"

"So she expected you to come! Women like men to participate in things like that, idiot."

"..."

"You know, this is as bad a screw up as forgetting her birthday."

"Dammit."

"Women logic, teme, women logic."

"..."

"You had better start thinking of something fast."

"Hn."

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><p>.<p> 


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